Listen
by Maimat B
Summary: Episode Tag S03E01 The latest drama involved a story of abduction. Chloe supposed she should be thankful it didn't involve aliens.


Chloe didn't even know where to begin.

She needed to start using a notebook to keep track of all of Lucifer's metaphors. Chloe listened when Lucifer talked about the Silver City, his Dad, and being the Devil. She listened to him recall stories about Hell as if he'd really been there. She listened to all of it but she didn't understand it.

The weird things her partner did knew no bounds, but he was her weirdo.

The latest drama unfolding involved a story of abduction. Chloe supposed she should be thankful it didn't involve aliens.

She listened to Lucifer's newest tale and tried to sort out the bits of reality within the story. The police report concerning the armoured vehicle verified that Lucifer had been out in the desert. How he reached that point was up for debate.

"Any idea who kidnapped you? I need a name, Lucifer."

"G-O-D." he said, voice strained. He paced from her desk to the stairs and back. All his usual signs of agitation were present, the mussed hair, thick eyeliner, expressive arm waving and gestures, whatever happened took an emotional toll on him, he wouldn't this kind of distress.

Right. God. Let's put a BOLO on that, shall we? She needed to sort through what he told her and try to understand it in a way that made sense.

Chloe caught his arm and though he didn't shake her off, his body nearly shook with barely concealed tension, "Come on," she said, "Let's talk about this in private."

She led him to the interrogation room, placing a hand on his back as she drew him along. Lucifer flinched from the light touch, nearly missing a step and quickly escaping forward and to the side.

Chloe filed that information away for later.

"After you," she said, and he stepped inside, his smile faltering for a moment as he looked over his shoulder. He paced the room, distancing himself.

She stayed back, taking a few steps aside and leaned against the wall to give him his space. "Do you want to take a seat?"

"Why are we in here? I'm not lying to you, Detective."

"No. No, it's not that," she kept her voice low. "You're upset, so I thought it would be better for us to talk, just the two of us," she said and sat down first, motioning him to the chair beside her, she didn't want the table between them.

"I'm telling the truth, Detective," Lucifer's tone became higher the more worked up he got, but he sat. That was a good sign.

"What happened to you in the desert?"

He barely touched the chair before he was up and pacing again. "I don't know. That's why I took you out there to find out."

"What do you remember?" she asked, staying calm, steady.

"I already told you everything." His long strides carried him back and forth across the small space quickly.

"Tell me again. You know how this works, sometimes when talking through a witness's narrative, we discover extra details they didn't disclose the first time. Take it slow."

He stopped and stared at her. "Does this mean you believe someone abducted me?"

"Yes. I believed you before. I want to figure this out with you; can we do that?"

"The truth is my dad's emissary dragged me out to the desert and…"

"That's what you assume happened; I need you to tell me specifically what you remember."

Lucifer sat back down, face serious and his gaze focused somewhere above Chloe's left shoulder. "I was talking to you- your answering service. And then nothing. Were you at the hospital to visit Linda?" he asked suddenly switching lanes again.

She nodded. "Yes, but I didn't see you there. What happened next?" she prompted, trying to keep him on track.

"So, you were there. There isn't much to tell. Someone or something knocked me out, and I woke up in the bloody desert."

"You woke up at the spot you took me to?"

"Yes. I walked until I found a road, I made the armored vehicle stop, and…"

"How did you make him stop?"

"I stood in the middle of the bloody road, how do you think?"

"And he stopped, just like that?"

"Well, he didn't have much choice now did he, I wasn't about to move and lose my only ride back to civilization."

She nodded. "Okay. Then the driver escaped, and you drove the vehicle until the police stopped you."

"Yes."

It was all in the police report. As strange as it was, score one for team reality.

"When you woke up, were you hurt?"

He drummed his fingers on his thigh and stood up again, walking to the wall and back again, standing away from her. He rolled his shoulders and seemed to will himself to be still. "Yes," he breathed. "Sunburn. I've never had a sunburn before. It was no lake of fire, but it bloody well hurt until I healed."

Lucifer's nose and cheeks were a little pinker than usual. "Did the P.D. take you to the hospital? Did you tell them someone had abducted you?"

"No. I wanted to go home and shower."

"Why?"

"Because I was filthy, Detective."

He was losing his patience again and so Chloe kept her voice soothing. "Do you remember what it was? Dirt? Sand? Soil? Dust?"

"Sand." He answered.

"Anything else?"

"Isn't that enough? Do you realize how long it takes to get that stuff out of your hair?" He came back and sat down again, leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees and gazing at her. "You believe me?"

"I do," she reassured him again. "Something happened to you," she agreed. "What did you do after you showered? Did you go to the hospital?" she asked.

"No. I don't go to hospitals."

No surprise there. Every time he got hurt he only sat still long enough for the ambulance and emergency personnel to check him over before declaring himself fine and ignoring their advice.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

"There's nothing they could have done."

Chloe reached out and placed her hand on his. "Why not?" He looked down at her hand, a perplexed look on his face, but at least he didn't pull away.

"Because I'm not human, Detective," he explained as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Did his aversion to hospitals have to do with his past? He slipped back into metaphors when reality became too intense, so that made sense. She tried not to encourage his delusions, but if he needed her to play along to help him tell his story, she would.

"Because you're the Devil?"

He smiled, "Exactly." But the smile didn't last. "But you don't believe that. Why- what are you doing?"

"Lucifer, I'm trying to understand, I want to understand. And- for now, right now- whatever you tell me, it's okay. I want to listen."

"Yes, okay. All I ask is that you listen."

Chloe nodded. "I will. So, the hospital, you said they couldn't help you?"

"Not with my problem," he sighed, and added, "I heal fast. Medical intervention wasn't necessary."

He already looked much better than when he had first reappeared at the precinct.

"You can't go to the hospital because of your identity," she talked it out slowly. "Are you worried they'll discover who you really are?"

He laughed, "Well there's that, but Amenadiel is more concerned about proof of the divine than I am."

She smiled encouragingly, "Were you injured in any other way when you woke up? You said your clothes and shoes were missing but you were still wearing your pants? Were they on properly? Buttoned? Unbuttoned?"

"The trousers were fine." He answered. "Nothing amiss there. Not even robbed. Whoever it was didn't even touch my wallet or Amenadiel's pendant."

"Were you sore anywhere? Other than the sunburns?"

"Yes. My back and shoulders."

"Where I touched your back earlier?" she asked, remembering how he had flinched. His scars were on his upper back.

"Yes, there." He agreed, relieved to have the question answered for him.

She still had her hands on his, and she lifted the cuff of his suit, examining his wrists and revealing only perfect skin. No ligature wounds. "Were there any marks on your wrists when you woke up?"

"No, detective."

"Lucifer," she said his name again, softly, "Will you remove your shirt? Let me see your back?"

He pulled his hands away. "No."

She proceeded carefully. "What did your dad do to you, Lucifer?"

"His emissary, remember? He doesn't get his own hands dirty."

She nodded. "Okay. His emissary. What did he do to you? How badly are you injured?"

He stood up again. Back to pacing. "Not injured, altered. I didn't want this, and I never asked for it. I cut the bloody things off to get away from him, and he just goes ahead and reattaches them."

"Your wings?" she asked.

He stopped and stared at her. "Yes. My wings."

What did the wings symbolise? How were they linked to the scars on his upper back? Tattoos? Metaphors for something else?

Who was Lucifer's father? Lucifer referred to his father as God, she took that to represent an authority figure, someone powerful. A cult leader? Did Lucifer grow up in a cult? Did he take on the persona of the Devil after being cast out? The goal wasn't about hiding, far from it; Lucifer flaunted his lifestyle.

It felt right, but she needed facts to back up her theories. Lucifer could be the son of a tax accountant who didn't want to go into the family business. But she didn't believe that.

"Someone kidnapped you on the order of your father and forced to undergo a bodily alteration against your will." She stated.

He turned to face her. "Yes."

"Do you want to make a report? Press charges?"

"It wouldn't do any good."

"You seem sure it was your father. What does he want from you?"

"I don't know what his plans are. No one ever does. We run around like rats in a maze trying to guess his intentions, but to what end? Does he want me back in Hell? Is he angry about Mum? We don't know because he never tells us anything. Least of all me."

"You're worried he'll come back? To send you back to Hell?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I'm not going back. This is my home now."

"If you won't go for a medical exam or press charges, there's nothing the department can do to help you."

"I shouldn't have- my apologies for wasting your time, Detective."

But Chloe jumped up and grabbed Lucifer's arm to stop him before he could leave. "Wait. I'm not done. There's nothing the department can do, but you're not alone. If your father tries to contact you again, I want you to tell me right away. I'll do everything in my power to protect you."

"The further you are from all this the better,"

"We're partners, aren't we? I mean it Lucifer, I want to help you."

He stared at her, eyes wide and shining. "Thank you," he said, and tentatively Chloe stepped forward, careful only to touch his low back and not his shoulders as she drew him closer.

"You can count on me, okay? Whatever it is you're going through, you don't have to go through it on your own."

And after a moment, he held onto her too.


End file.
